Why do the Rangers have the same problems, year, after year, after year, after year?

Why do the Rangers have the same problems, year, after year, after year, after year?

This team can't score, has a bantam-level powerplay, and has no big bodies to keep the opponent out from in front. These are the exact same problems the Rangers have had every year, since I'm knee-high to Theo Fleury. Why aren't they ever addressed?

This team shows up plays hard almost every night and is young. I haven't seen this since late 1979.

I am overjoyed this is a team you can take pride in. Winning isn't everything, but it does stop threads like this.

I'm not saying the team isn't young and promising, I just wanna know why it's always the same problems. At this rate, the future contenders everyone is excited about won't be able to score on the PP either.

We're behind the curve, that's why. What we started doing in 05 was what good clubs have been doing since 2000 and it's going to take time to fix that. Even then you can say we're even more behind the curve because instead of tanking we went and got Jagr who carried our team.

We're behind the curve, that's why. What we started doing in 05 was what good clubs have been doing since 2000 and it's going to take time to fix that. Even then you can say we're even more behind the curve because instead of tanking we went and got Jagr who carried our team.

Yeah but I have no regrets about that. The 2007 team that lost to Buffalo was my favorite since 1994. I loved that team, and a bounce here, a bounce there, they have a shot at the Cup. They were close to beating Buffalo.

Yeah but I have no regrets about that. The 2007 team that lost to Buffalo was my favorite since 1994. I loved that team, and a bounce here, a bounce there, they have a shot at the Cup. They were close to beating Buffalo.

I agree, but it was a big gamble and as much as I loved Jagr bringing us back into the playoffs, it really didn't do much to help propel us.

I do think we're finally seeing a team form that can be a contender, but we're still fixing issues that have plagued us because it takes more than a few years to develop an elite PMD or number 1 center, and we've only really started dedicating the club to trying to do so 5 years ago.

Pretty simple. The team hasn't developed a legitimate franchise player outside of the goaltending position since Brian Leetch, and it has been decades since the team has developed a legitimate first line forward. DECADES.

For whatever the reason, whether it's Dolan, Sather or a combination, these people refuse to do what is necessary to build a winner. They don't see the need to build a contending team, or they simply don't know how to. And, of course, as a previous poster mentioned, this doesn't seem to bother the majority of the fanbase, who fall all over themselves to praise the arrival of complimentary players and role players instead of being outraged at the fact that they're constantly being asked to pay more and more for the same inferior product, year after year. I've never seen hockey fans of an original six franchise get so excited over average bottom six forwards. I can't fathom how professional hockey fans get excited over a team that, year after year, plays beer league style hockey because they don't have enough talent to compete any other way.

I've said it all year, the only chance this club has of being a Stanley Cup contender at anytime in the near future is the possibility that a 31 year old free agent will sign with us this summer. That's how poorly managed this franchise is. They chance what should be their number one objective to an event that has so many variables.

While I do think we are A. on the right track, B. are doing things the "right way", and C. are icing a team that works hard.... I was thinking about this on the way home, tonight.

We will get back on track and Gabby will come around. I just wish a genie would visit me tomorrow and grant me 1 (or 2) wishes: EC and Drury to disappear. They aren't part of the future...at all... Prospal isn't either, but I like him, and he brings some much needed offense.

the sky isn't falling...

**noteworthy** OP has almost 500 posts in less than a month on the site..hahaha

While I do think we are A. on the right track, B. are doing things the "right way", and C. are icing a team that works hard.... I was thinking about this on the way home, tonight.

We will get back on track and Gabby will come around. I just wish a genie would visit me tomorrow and grant me 1 (or 2) wishes: EC and Drury to disappear. They aren't part of the future...at all... Prospal isn't either, but I like him, and he brings some much needed offense.

the sky isn't falling...

As for the question, the simple answer is that Sather and Dolan have no clue how to build a legitimate contender. Sting put it perfectly.

Team simply has not been able to draft Elite level scoring. Maybe Cherry would have been that, but who knows.

Staal looks like he could get there on the blueline and of course Henrik, but none of our forwards, traditional scorers are elite skilled players.

I'm not bashing the draft. Its been MUCH better and these guys are decent good hard working... non elite players.

All the contenders have several homegrown Elite players. Crosby/Malkin, Brahvechkin/Backstrom, Carter/Richards, Dats/Zetterberg, Towes/Kane, Stamkos/St Louis (don't laugh TB is capable of messing teams up in the playoffs)

Rangers just have not drafted the Elite scorer, and its a hard role to fill ufa. Gabby is one guy, even when he's hot it's not enough.

All that said.... maybe Stepan develops into a dominant 1st line C. Maybe MZA develops into something really special. Thats what its going to take to make this team a contender. Its very hard today to build a contender UFA style

Team simply has not been able to draft Elite level scoring. Maybe Cherry would have been that, but who knows.

Staal looks like he could get there on the blueline and of course Henrik, but none of our forwards, traditional scorers are elite skilled players.

I'm not bashing the draft. Its been MUCH better and these guys are decent good hard working... non elite players.

All the contenders have several homegrown Elite players. Crosby/Malkin, Brahvechkin/Backstrom, Carter/Richards, Dats/Zetterberg, Towes/Kane, Stamkos/St Louis (don't laugh TB is capable of messing teams up in the playoffs)

Rangers just have not drafted the Elite scorer, and its a hard role to fill ufa. Gabby is one guy, even when he's hot it's not enough.

I'm still pissed at the McNaught and Wilson picks.

Many of those players (Crosby/Malkin/Ovechkin/Backstrom/Toews/Kane/Stamkos) were top 3 picks. Take them out and those teams are nowhere near as good. Those teams got lucky, that can't happen to every team.

Many of those players (Crosby/Malkin/Ovechkin/Backstrom/Toews/Kane/Stamkos) were top 3 picks. Take them out and those teams are nowhere near as good. Those teams got lucky, that can't happen to every team.

Those teams were HORRENDOUS going into those lottery drafts. I would say those fanbases earned their heady picks. Rangers are just never that bad.

Pretty simple. The team hasn't developed a legitimate franchise player outside of the goaltending position since Brian Leetch, and it has been decades since the team has developed a legitimate first line forward. DECADES.

For whatever the reason, whether it's Dolan, Sather or a combination, these people refuse to do what is necessary to build a winner. They don't see the need to build a contending team, or they simply don't know how to. And, of course, as a previous poster mentioned, this doesn't seem to bother the majority of the fanbase, who fall all over themselves to praise the arrival of complimentary players and role players instead of being outraged at the fact that they're constantly being asked to pay more and more for the same inferior product, year after year. I've never seen hockey fans of an original six franchise get so excited over average bottom six forwards. I can't fathom how professional hockey fans get excited over a team that, year after year, plays beer league style hockey because they don't have enough talent to compete any other way.

I've said it all year, the only chance this club has of being a Stanley Cup contender at anytime in the near future is the possibility that a 31 year old free agent will sign with us this summer. That's how poorly managed this franchise is. They chance what should be their number one objective to an event that has so many variables.

Good post. I feel every year the fanbase on here gets so excited on our bright future, and while yes this is justifiable in some ways, usually it comes down to skaters with 3rd line potential. Look back 4-5 years ago, everybody was absolutely stoked for our amazing future with names such as Prucha, Dawes, Immonen, Byers, Sangs, Korps, Montoya, Moore, A. Giroux, Baranka. And while guys like Staal, Callahan, Girardi and Dubinsky have panned out into solid NHLers, there was/is nothing that is going to put our team into the next level, skaters that teams like Pittsburgh, Chicago, Wash, Detroit, TB, Philly, even NJ have been able to draft/develop. Despite this, I prefer the current state of the Rangers then 10 years ago where they were freely trading their future away for overpaid, over-the-hill veterans.

While Henrik may be the one homegrown legit franchise player the Rangers currently have, goaltending no longer gets you to the finals, just ask Chicago, Philly, Detroit, etc.

Many of those players (Crosby/Malkin/Ovechkin/Backstrom/Toews/Kane/Stamkos) were top 3 picks. Take them out and those teams are nowhere near as good. Those teams got lucky, that can't happen to every team.

The Rangers management won't allow the team to tank, so acquiring a top 3 pick has been next to impossible. That said, I'm quite pleased that we're finally seeing some youth come through.

I liked the 2010 draft because it was balanced. The Rangers drafted both size and skill, and you need both in your system. McIlrath & Thomas will be valuable players. Wilson & McNaught were late picks, 5th & 7th rounders respectively. You didn't mention Jesper Fasth, who was drafted 6th between them, who might be the steal of the bottom half of the draft. It was a nice balanced draft.

Drafting grit in the bottom rounds is never a bad idea. Wilson has the tools to be another Brandon Prust, and who wouldn't accept that from a 5th rounder? Unfortunately McNaught has been hurt most of the season, but he still might catch on as a heavyweight. Better to grab one in the late rounds than to sign the likes of Brashear or Boogaard to expensive contracts. The 7th round is a crap shoot. Is it any worse a pick than other recent picks like Danny Hobbs, Lucas Zeliska, Ryan Russell & Mikhail Pashnin, who will never play in the NHL in any shape or form?

The problem for the Rangers with regard to the draft isn't that they picked Wilson & McNaught. It's been that neither of the Italian Stallions, consecutive 1st rounders Sanguinetti or DelGotto, have developed. Sangs was a total bust, and DelZotto is in the midst of an awful sophmore jinx. If just one of them was contributing offensively on the backline as projected, the Rangers team would look entirely different.